The First Word: The Chaos of the Budget Storm

On this day — House leaders race the clock in an attempt to get the budget back on track; how big is the difference between the House and the Senate; what role is Gov. Rick Perry playing in the budget negotiations; more on Gov. Rick Perry’s flirtations with the presidency; sanctuary cities dies a death by substitution in the Senate; and Pay Day loan regulation hits another bump.

Wednesday marked another day of delay on passing bills key to financing the budget deal worked out between the House and Senate conference committee. It was a day fraught with emotions and tensions as negotiations over school finance and the revenue bills appeared to hit a wall at different points through the day. At one point, Senate budget chief Sen. Steve Ogden slammed the House leadership for being unwilling to take tough votes on the revenue bills calling it “politics at its worst.” With some Representatives openly speculating that votes on key Senate bills may not occur until Saturday, the threat of a special session seemed even more real. Houston Chronicle/San Antonio Express-News Austin Bureau Chief Peggy Fikac reports:

“We’re one day closer to a special session,” Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said after House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, postponed his chamber’s consideration of the revenue and education finance bills.

The delay until at least Thursday came after meetings among Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, House Speaker Joe Straus and leading lawmakers negotiating the budget. Leaders said they are close to an agreement, and Perry said a budget “absolutely” can be completed before the regular session ends.

But they’re still trying to reach consensus on several fronts in the face of a revenue shortfall estimated at $27 billion through the next two years, taking into account the money needed to provide the current level of services to a growing population.

***A Lack of Leadership

The Austin American-Statesman’s Jason Embry writes in his column that the House meltdown over the budget is indicative of a lack of leadership, it’s a theme that has been a recurring topic throughout this session. Paul Burka put it this way in a column that he wrote for Texas Monthly a few months ago — would Pete Laney, George Bush and Bob Bullock have ever allowed things to get this bad; no.

The hands-on approach appeared to be a tactical change for Perry, who has repeatedly frustrated lawmakers with his from-a-distance declarations about how they should, or should not, balance the state budget. Last week, he irked the Senate’s chief budget-writer by leaving a voice mail message on phones across the state on behalf of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, a conservative group that has often been critical of the Senate’s budget efforts.

And on Tuesday, Perry put out a statement that said a budget that depends on accounting gimmicks would be harmful and unsustainable. That didn’t make life any easier for lawmakers, either, considering that they have been working on a budget that depends on accounting gimmicks.

A Democratic House member publicly questioned Rep. Jim Pitts, the chief budget-writer in the House, on Wednesday about the level of Perry’s involvement. Pitts repeatedly replied that Perry had been very involved — on Wednesday.

“We have had several conversations with him today,” Pitts said. And then, “He has been involved in the conversation all day today.”

***House Fiddles, Budget Flails

With a special session looming and continuing confusion about whether or not there was a budget deal, the House took time to deal with other matters — passing a nonbinding resolution that called on the federal government respect states’ rights and end “unfunded federal mandates.” Then they hazed the freshmen members some more. Meanwhile, the clock on the regular session keeps on ticking.

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Below the fold — a cartoon by the Chronicle’s Nick Anderson on Perry’s request for fire aid from the federal government; ‘The Clips’ you need to read; and in ‘EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT,’ the NYT’s Nate Silver takes a look at a possible path for Gov. Perry to the GOP nomination.

***I Hate You, But Help Me Anyway

- Cartoon by Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle

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***The Clips

- The Associated Press reports that the House’s sanctuary city bill was derailed in the Senate’s Transportation and Homeland Security Committee.

Instead, the panel proposed new language that would change state laws to increase border security and expand the use of a federal citizenship verification program. That bill was left pending because a quorum wasn’t present to give it final approval.

Sen. Tommy Williams, the chairman of the Senate committee and a member of Perry’s own party, said he has no intention of restoring sanctuary cities language in the new bill unless it came back through his committee.

“At this point in the session, it’s pretty unlikely,” he said.

Though opponents agree that Texas’ immigration system is broken, they argue the legislation would only exacerbate the problem.

Expressing disappointment over the failure of a bill that would have aided consumers caught in a cycle of debt, State Sen. John Carona on Wednesday put the Texas payday and auto title loan industry on notice that he will ask for an interim study of legislation to shut down “bad actors” in the short-term loan marketplace.

Carona’s Senate Business and Commerce Committee approved two bills passed last week by the Texas House requiring the industry to provide consumers with disclosures about the fees and interest rates they will be charged and also to report data to the state.

He lamented that a third crucial part of the legislative effort to rein abusive practices in the industry “was left on the cutting room floor” when it was killed by a point of order in the Texas House. He pledged to pass the two remaining bills, and said he would “complement our work with an interim study.”

Clarence Lee Brandley, whose release from Texas’ death row in 1990 helped pave the way for a special fund to compensate victims of wrongful conviction, has been denied payment from the fund.

Brandley was notified last week by the comptroller’s office that his claim for nine years of improper incarceration was made too late and lacked either a pardon based on innocence or a court ruling declaring him innocent.

Brandley, 59, was convicted of capital murder in the death of Cheryl Ferguson, a 16-year-old high school student killed during a 1980 volleyball tournament at Conroe High School, where Brandley was employed as a custodian. His conviction quickly became a cause celebre as his supporters claim he was singled out as a suspect only because he was black.

Texas medical schools feel like the scorned children of the state’s education budget. Lost amid the pleas of parents to restore funding for public education, and the demands of college students to preserve financial aid, the state’s health care institutions say few seem to understand the drastic situation they face.

At a time when Texas is grappling with a dire — and growing — physician shortfall, medical schools say they won’t be able to fully fund the roughly 5,600 students currently enrolled, and could be forced to curb new admissions next year.

“We are looking at the full threat of cuts,” said Dr. Nancy Dickey, president of the Texas A&M Health Science Center and the A&M System’s vice chancellor for health affairs. “We have been trying to assure ourselves that someone understands the depth of the predicament we’re facing.”

About 30,000 state corrections employees will get raises, and the state will close its first maximum-security prison under a new criminal justice budget agreed to by Senate and House negotiators, legislative leaders said Wednesday.

The budget agreement directs agencies to spend $6.1 billion in 2012-13 on adult criminal justice programs. That’s about $100 million, or 1.6 percent, less than the current two-year budget, according to figures provided by prison and legislative budget officials.

Bills containing some of the biggest savings appear to be dying in the last days of the legislative session, which ends May 30. Among those in trouble is a measure that would have allowed the state to deport foreign citizens if they were paroled from state prisons, estimated to save $76 million.

Those close to the talks said trouble has been brewing for weeks. Earlier this month, the group appeared to be tantalizingly close to an agreement. But then, Democratic sources said, Coburn started bringing up new issues at every meeting, or demanding that old ones be reconsidered.

For example, Coburn began pressing for sharper cuts to Social Security than had been previously agreed to, according to sources familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the negotiations. And during a three-hour session late Monday, the sources said, Coburn demanded deep and immediate cuts to Medicare that went beyond anything previously proposed.

On Tuesday morning, Coburn called Durbin to say he was dropping out. He later told reporters that the group was at an “impasse” and complained that Democrats were unwilling to do enough to cut spending, particularly on federal retirement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Limbaugh, widely considered the nation’s most listened-to talk-radio host, gave the Texas governor a plug on his afternoon program by declaring that Perry is the Republicans’ best hope to bring life to an anemic presidential field. Further, Limbaugh said, “He has great hair.”

The never-subdued commentator is followed by conservatives across the country, with an audience that has been estimated from about 14 million to about 25 million. Although Limbaugh said that he wasn’t making an endorsement, his mention of Perry could help put the Texas governor on political radar screens across the country in advance of next year’s presidential race.

Even before Limbaugh’s broadcast, Perry had been gaining increased notice in blogs and a diverse range of publications as Republicans and conservative independents size up potential candidates to run against Democratic President Barack Obama.

RealClearPolitics, an online journal, reported Tuesday that Perry aides have been quietly making inquiries on Perry’s behalf in advance of the 2012 presidential race. Other publications spotlighting Perry include The New York Times and the National Journal, which recently ran a cover profile on the Texas governor.

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***Your Moment of Zen

The greatest Presidential speech ever made… except for all the ones that have actually been made.